Leonard A. Sipes, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said state officials were disturbed to learn about the archivist's decision but tried to minimized the fallout.

And he continues with,

"They should not have taken unilateral action on their own. . . . But we're talking about a negligible impact on the public safety."

But that doesn't quite mesh with this:

It was unclear yesterday how many background checks were not completed during the four-month period, though officials said the state archives normally would have received about 400 to 500 requests from the FBI during that time. Virtually all cases referred to the archives involved applicants with some sort of criminal history that federal authorities were seeking to clarify through old state records.